Fraudster due to be sentenced for £350k scam

A financial advisor from Morecambe who stole more than £350,000 from elderly and vulnerable victims is due to be sentenced in court.

Peter Bottomley, 60, of Hall Drive, will be sentenced tomorrow, Tuesday August 18, after pleading guilty to eight counts of fraud and theft offences at Preston Crown Court in July.

The court heard that Bottomley used his working knowledge as a financial advisor between 2008 and 2014 to defraud money from four elderly and vulnerable victims making a total of £356,882 from his activities.

His offences relating to the four victims include:

Abusing his position of trust in relation to taking money/credit balances from a man totalling £103,646, and “dishonestly with a view to gain for himself falsified a document, namely a will, in the name of a man”.

He also pleaded guilty to “dishonestly, and intending to make a gain for himself, made a representation to an employee of an insurance company”.

Bottomley also pleaded guilty to abusing his position of trust in relation to taking money/credit balances from a Morecambe woman totalling £117,295, and abusing his position of trust in relation to taking money/credit balances from another Morecambe woman totalling £70,666.

He also made a will in the name of the woman intending it to be used in fraud.

Finally, he stole credit balances of £46,500 belonging to a Morecambe man, and abused his position of trust in relation to taking money/credit balances from a Morecambe man totalling £18,775.